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Male Adult Season Structure Consultation Workshops

Male Adult Season Structure Consultation Workshops

Scottish Rugby would like to invite representatives from your club to take part in a consultation workshop regarding the long-term structure of the male adult season.

Scottish Rugby would like to invite representatives from your club to take part in a consultation workshop regarding the long-term structure of the male adult season.

Recommendations from Scottish Rugby Council’s Standing Committee on Governance (SCG) into maledomestic leagues recommended that the current (2018/19) structures should remain in place until the 2021/2022 season. These recommendations were subsequently approved at a Special General Meeting on the 22 March 2019.

However, recent discussions at club fora and at Rugby Development regional club roadshows, have raised the desire from clubs to review this timeline due to a number of concerns with the current set-up. The main concerns raised by clubs are:

Season Length - diminishing appetite and availability from players and clubs for an 8-month season. Concerns also about the attraction of adult rugby to new players and those transitioning from youth rugby.

Travel – concerns that the travel involved in national leagues is becoming increasingly troublesome for clubs, including player availability and costs.

The Rugby Development department is therefore undertaking a male season structure consultation process in conjunction with the SCG. The consultation will aim to identify solutions to stem the decline in the number of adult male teams, unfulfilled fixtures and the general challenges around player number in the game.The first stage of this consultation process will begin with a series of workshops in May and June, with clubs being invited to register a maximum of 4 representatives, involving a minimum of 1 player and 1 coach in order to gather input from a variety of people from within the game.These workshops will play a critical role in helping shape the male adult season structure in the future and will allow all attendees to share their ideas about how to strengthen the community club game in Scotland.

We are really looking forward to welcoming you to the workshop and receiving your input. Please remember that there are a maximum of 4 places available per club, and that player and coach representation is crucial for this stage in the process.

If Premiership and National 1-3 clubs are unable to attend their specific workshop above, they are still able to input into the consultation process by attending the regional workshop below. Clubs with teams playing in both national and regional leagues can attend both workshops.